"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5

Points to Ponder ...

"My children may bicker, and I may—almost certainly will—complain. But the bickering and the griping are chaff, and what’s left when the winds of time carry them away are the golden kernels I want to savor..."
--Melissa Wiley

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November 13, 2007

Getting Squirrely!

The kids wanted to make bird feeders out of the remaining field corn they found last week at the pond, so yesterday we pulled together what we had and got to work!

We spread peanutbutter on sugar cones, and threaded them to string with wooden beads. Then the kids had a ball sticking the corn kernels to the peanutbutter. (We later updated them, adding a little yogurt cap stand to the bottom
of the cone, and held it all together with a pipe cleaner.) We hung them from the dogwood tree that hangs over the play yard fence, from really skinny branches we hoped would be too small for the squirrels (We put up a pop bottle feeder last spring in hopes of attracting a few birds to our yard, but a big squirrel made short work of that feeder, less than an hour after it was put in the tree!)

Squirrels don't care how skinny the branches are.

Junie B.'s feeder was the first casualty--shortly after hanging the feeders, we saw her string and wood bead flapping in the breeze, and could find no sign of the feeder anywhere on the ground. Then there was a bit of a thunderstorm, and we figured the other two feeders would be history from the weather alone.

But at first light this morning, Daddy and Taz found the squirrels at work! Apparently, the soggy cones (let alone the skinny branches) were no deterrent. The first squirrel knocked the feeder down and absconded with it, wood beads and all. But the second one was much more entertaining, hanging by his toes from a stronger branch above, and picking off the corn kernels one by one. The other squirrel came back, and the two of them took turns picking at the feeder little by little all day, until at dinnertime, one of them finally attacked the cone itself. All three of the kids were so excited to watch the squirrels in action!

We still have some hamster food left that was, of course, intended for Elizabeth, but Taz and Junie B. are already making plans to find ways to give it to the squirrels. Since they seemed to like the wood beads, Junie B. is wondering if the squirrels would also like Elizabeth's leftover wood chews and salt licks!

(Recently, we heard the squirrels screaming in the trees for the first time. We thought at first it was an injured cat. It honestly made me nervous--and having shrieking squirrels get nervy about hanging in the play yard looking for food while my children are playing appeals to me not at all. A friend of mine used to refer to them as "rats with bushy tails," and this is the image that keeps coming back to me now...Maybe we can donate that stuff to the vet instead?)

I'd really like to find a way to attract birds to this window, since it's such a great vantage point for the kids to make observations. I'll have to research a little about how to keep the squirrels away, I guess!

I have to admit, though, those thieving rascals are pretty fun to watch!

Welcome to My Blog!

We are a Catholic homeschooling family of 7, a blend of step children, bio children and adoptees, making our way to heaven the best way we know how! Here's a record of our journey, with thoughts on anything we care about--mostly homeschooling, faith and finding a way to make it all work for each of us. Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy your visit!